


Irreplaceable

by xocberry



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: AU, Bromance, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Cute, Dreams, Emo, Emotional, Feels, Heartfelt, Illness, Melodrama, Mystery, No Romance, Sad, Warm, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, adopted brother, blind, chenlay - Freeform, cuz no incest, el dorado
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 20:10:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11653845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xocberry/pseuds/xocberry
Summary: Jongdae loves his brother, Yixing, who lays awake at night, dreaming of a different life.(Songs: Don't Go, El Dorado)





	Irreplaceable

**Author's Note:**

> my attempt at writing non-romance. Let's get to it~

Yixing, eyes open, stared blankly at the ceiling above him, laying on his bed. He blinked off the picture-less dream he had once again and watched the nothingness above him.

 

“Jongdae,” he whispered.

 

“Yixing? Did you just wake up? Do you need something?” A small voice from across the room asked, worry heavily weighing down his words.

 

“No. Well, yeah. Just, uh—Can you just read me something? Anything would be fine. I need to think of something else right now,” the older boy replied.

 

The two were a year apart and in their mid-teens. They had been together since Jongdae was adopted into the family before he could even walk. Yixing would have believed they were truly blood-related if it wasn’t for the messy years that followed the adoption. 

 

In a way, he was glad his brother was not linked to him biologically. He feared that if he was, Jongdae would be the one with the disease and not Yixing. 

 

He loved his brother too much to even imagine a world in which their places were switched. Tears began forming, pooling over his glazed eyes. 

 

“Yixing, don’t cry. Here, Close your eyes for a bit," the fifteen-year-old instructed as he carefully dabbed the wetness away with a soft cloth. Taking the older one’s hand in his, he pulled up a book application on his phone. “What do you want to read?”

 

“Um, something fantasy or fairy tale-like. Some sort of folktale? I don’t know. Maybe a story or legend about Atlantis or another thing like that. That one was really good.”

 

Jongdae already knew what his brother wanted, but he chose to ask out of courtesy. Yixing never changed over the past few years as his illness worsened. Every day the boy would ask the younger to read him tales of faraway lands and forgotten or lost places. 

 

He found an article on the lost city, El Dorado. As he spoke, promises enveloped the older boy who soon closed his eyes but kept a firm grip on the other’s hand to make his conscious state known.

 

That night, he dreamt of gold. Shapes that had no definition were all made from the shining yellow metal. The boy heard sounds of a boat traveling across a body of water to reach the land, but he never once envisioned the transport. Only the golden color was on his mind.

 

Jongdae woke up, hand still on his brother’s but not held. Both had fallen asleep. The younger, reliable sibling removed his hand and moved back to his bed, collapsing in exhaustion.

 

He felt as though his entire purpose was to assist his older brother. He realized this one day a few years prior when their parents were too busy to care for the ill child. Jongdae naturally had to step up. He became his brother’s guide, voice, eyes. 

 

The boy couldn’t imagine a life without his brother. The older one’s condition was not life-threatening but it attacked places no one thought was possible.

 

Jongdae never could remember what the name of his brother’s hereditary sickness was. All he knew was that Yixing was slowly going blind years following Jongdae’s adoption. To the family, the addition of a new family member was a blessing on multiple levels.

 

Their parents were medically unable to conceive a second child, so they turned to adoption. When Yixing learned of this, he found his parents’ infertility to be yet another blessing in disguise. _At least there won’t be another one of me,_ the boy would constantly think. 

 

The younger watched the steady breathing of the other from across the room. He was grateful. Thankful that he had a family, a brother, a place to call his own.

 

Relieved that his brother was still alive.


End file.
